 BetterPhoto Member |
Indoor sports photography I'm new to this so don't laugh... I'm trying to take pictures of my sons playing indoor ice hockey. I have a Nikon N60 with a 300mm zoom lens. I was told to use ISO1000 film. I used the "sports" setting on the camera and the photo's turned out way too dark and grainy. I have to find a way to maintain the fast shutter speed but yet allow more light. Any suggestions? I've now been told that ISO400 speed film would be better, and I would assume I need shutter speeds of at least 1/500. Any suggestions? I can't use a flash. Thanks for your help.
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Joseph OBrien |
You had the right thing going with ISO1000, but if it's still too dark, try to bump it up to 3200. 400 will require more light for the same settings. What are the specs on your 300mm zoom lens? Probably f/4.5-5.6 or something. The sports settings on your camera probably sets a minimum shutter speed that it won't go below, and maybe a maximum aperture. Your best bet might be to switch it to Manual, set the shutter speed to 1/500, and open the aperture all the way up (to the "smallest" number). Hm. Here's another thought. Your camera might have been autoexposing off the bright white ice, not the players. If that's the case, be sure to get a manual reading off the players and use the same settings throughout the game (since lighting conditions remain constant). Honestly, your biggest problem is probably the 300 zoom. Unless you bought a top-of-the-line lens, it's probably too slow for indoor sports. Could you sacrifice getting in close for picture quality by using a shorter lens with a wider max. f/stop, like maybe a 50mm, or a medium range zoom? You'd have to physically get closer, but at least you'd get the pictures. Sorry for this random and jumbled answer. Email me if you need me to be more clear about anything. Good luck!
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Theng Chong |
I feel your pain, Bob. I've been taking action shots of high school basketball and soccer for 4 years now. In your case, the bright white ice is probably fooling your camera's meter and making it think you don't need as much exposure. Try Fuji Superia X-tra or Kodak Gold Max 800 speed film. Now, get really brave and use your camera in manual mode. Open up your lens to the widest possible aperture. Then experiment with different shutter speeds to see what combination is giving you the best exposure. Unfortunately, the best exposure will probably result in a blurry picture. A rule of thumb is that the reciprocal of your shutter speed should be equal to or greater than your focal length for a sharp picture. In other words, if you are zooming all the way in at 300mm, then you must choose a shutter speed of at least 1/300. I'm not familiar with your camera, but more than likely that shutter speed does not exist, so yes, you will need to use a shutter speed of 1/500 for sharpness and action stopping. To be perfectly honest, this may still not give you the results you want. Action photography is not easy. From time to time I've found myself on the sidelines with pro photographers from local newspapers. The equipment they use costs about 10 times as much as my rig and it usually belongs to the newspaper rather than the photographer. Other things you can do is get as close to the action as possible; use a tripod or monopod; and try shooting when the action is peaking. Good luck, Bob. Keep shooting and you just might get a keeper. I'd love to know how you make out.
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Steve |
I am also new to photography so I'm certainly not an expert. However, I have been having similar problems shooting my sons playing basketball with my N60, so I'll share my experiences. I apologize in advance for being verbose. I have tried Fuji Superia 400 and 800 and Kodak Royal Gold 400 and 1000 and Kodak Gold Max 800 film. The Gold Max 800 was pretty good but I have gotten the best results with the Fuji Superia 800. The Royal Gold 1000 allowed me to shoot at the highest shutter speed but I felt that the results were too grainy. Both 400 speed films just didn't allow me a fast enough shutter speed. What's the max aperture of your lens? If you're using a 70-300 zoom, made by Nikon, Sigma or Tamron, it probably ranges from 4.0 to 5.6. If that's true, I would recommend getting as close to the action as possible. That way you won't have to zoom out to 300mm where the aperture is at it's minimum of f/5.6. Also, the affects of camera shake will be reduced if you're not at the 300mm end. I have experimented with the sport setting but I have gotten the best results using aperture priority, setting it to the largest aperture, and letting the camera pick the shutter speed. However, when the action is very quick some parts of the picture come out blurry. When I was able to attain a shutter speed of 1/125, I've gotten good results. I've never been able to get 1/500 indoors. What I'm going to try next is using the manual mode (M) setting, then setting the max aperture possible and then adjusting the shutter speed to where the viewfinder indicates the picture will be one unit underexposed. I've read that print film can be over or underexposed slightly without affecting picture quality too much. I'll let you know how it turns out. From your description of your results it sounds as if your shutter speed of 500 underexposes the film too much. I have come to the conclusion that some gyms are just too dimly lit for me to take quality pictures with the lens I own without flash. One way out of that situation is to purchase a lens with a bigger max aperture. Unfortunately that costs. If money is not an issue then Nikon makes a 80-200 F2.8 zoom. It's big, heavy, and expensive but has great optics and a constant 2.8 aperture. I just can't justify spending the $800 for that lens. I hope all this helps.
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John A. Lind |
The "grainy" sounds like you are underexposed. You also have the disadvantage of a zoom lens. Most of the consumer zoom lenses are horridly slow; the aperture does not open up very wide at max zoom forcing a slow shutter speed. Professional sports photographers use very fast and very expensive telephotos that run into the thousands of dollars for this reason. The solution? Continue using 800 or 1000 speed film. Put the camera on aperture priority and open the lens up as wide as it will go (smallest aperture number). Let the camera determine shutter speed. Get as close to the action as possible to keep the zoom at less than 300mm if possible. This will reduce possible camera shake. You want to try for 1/250th shutter speeds or faster. Brace yourself against a pillar or wall; anything is typically better than just standing. Practice at panning smoothly with the action and when you trip the shutter, keep panning, don't stop (sort of like follow-through in golf). Some photographers develop a skill at being able to keep both eyes open while panning as it helps with the follow-through. You might want to try that, although it is rather difficult to master. Lastly, you could also be getting underexposure from the glare of the ice. You can try presetting everything in completely manual mode by metering on a player close up without much ice in the viewfinder. Use that exposure setting throughout. Since you are using negative type film, it has a wider exposure latitude and will be more forgiving of variation than slide films. This is to your advantage. You can do it, but you need to realize the limitations you have the professional sports photographers don't, and work at some "tricks" to overcome them.
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Jay Wetherill |
I had the same problem with my Canon Elan. I shoot minor league baseball and once the stadium lights come on, shooting in the "sports" mode was lost. I tried 1000 ASA film and got grainy & grayish photos. I then got some advise from Kevin Loughlin of Adventure camera in Exton PA. He suggested is set the camera to the "AV" mode and set the aperture at 5.6. This will give you the fastest shutter speed for the film/conditions at any given moment. Hats off to Kevin...... I am now shooting with my 500mm lens and with 800 or 1000 ASA film under stadium lights and getting super action shots. It worked for me..... and I don't know much about Nikon but give it a try. Good luck.
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Jay J. Ladouceur |
Hello, I'm no expert either. I have however, had some luck shooting with my old Konica Autoreflex T3n and using a Vivitar f3.5 70 - 210 Zoom. I've used various films ...even down to 64. I think the success was due to the flash. I use a Vivitar 285 which will light things up to 100' using 400 film. I really think Flash is the key here as you need to overpower the ice ..which is like a big light box, and you also have to burn through the arena lights which can distort the colors unless you use a filter. A powerful flash just does it all for me. Watch out with these old high power flashes though. Newer cameras have a different trigger voltage which is way lower than the old ones and you either need a flash with the low trigger voltage or an adapter that gets it there. Hope that helps! All the best!
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